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Saturday, June 7, 2008

*Happy Holidays...From the Kitchen*






Holiday Cookie Party:
Stained Glass Cookies-sugar cookies cut with a matching open "window" and filled with crushed Jolly Ranchers and peppermint candies

Oatmeal Kiss Surprise Cookie-Oatmeal cookie dough with "surprise" Hershey's Kiss/Hug tucked inside and rolled in decorative sugars

Gingerbread-Pre-baked gingerbread cookies for decorating with royal icing and a multitude of candy decorations and sprinkles to choose from!

Although there weren't any pictures I could post here for the Thanksgiving Feast project with a group of 5th Grade Girl Scouts, it's a day none of us will forget! In order for the girls to fulfill their requirements for their nutrition unit, I planned opportunities for them to make healthy fruit smoothies, grilled veggies, homemade dinner rolls from scratch, mini pumpkin muffins (shaped like little pumpkins!) and a frozen yogurt pie for dessert. We also went over all the "Rules of the Kitchen", including egg safety, cooking temperatures for various meets and safety tips for using knives, ovens and stovetops. After all the food was ready, we set the table, complete with a centerpiece using a runner with quotes for giving thanks written with fabric pens. I left the pens out so they could add their own Thankful Things to our centerpiece. We lit the candles, said "grace" and the girls feasted on all their hard work-and the baked chickens I bought from the store.

I had another opportunity to work with a younger group of Girl Scouts, the 2nd Grade Brownies, for a Christmas Cookie Extravaganza in December. The troop moms and I decided upon 3 hands-on cookie recipes that were fairly easy and really unique; Stained Glass Cookies, Oatmeal Kiss Surprise Cookies, and Gingerbread (because you can't have Christmas cookies without Gingerbread!) I pre-made each of the doughs, pre-cut the Stained Glass and pre-baked the Gingerbread and placed them on trays so they would be ready to go for each group as we cycled through the stations. In case anyone whipped through their station lighning fast, we had a cute Gingerbread Kid Christmas tree decoration craft station and another table set up for them to decorate their take home box with some foam Gingerbread House stickers.

The girls did an amazing job with the cookies, each tray was as unique as they are. But the best part was seeing their anticipation and then excitement once their masterpieces came out of the oven. And the smell......mmmmmmmm! The whole house was alive with Christmas Spirit! Not only did they go home with a box of homemade goodies to share with family and friends, they left with a lot of great memories, too!

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